UN denies drafting plan to resolve dispute over Hodeidah city at Sweden peace talks

▶ Theresa May has deferred a crucial vote on the final deal, plunging the nation into turmoil

The UN yesterday denied drawing up a plan to resolve the dispute over the port city of Hodeidah, with special envoy Martin Griffiths saying a leaked document that showed an initial peace proposal was not something “we have worked on”.

A draft document circulated yesterday showed a preliminary suggestion for halting the offensive in the port city that called for the withdrawal of all troops and having the UN oversee and set up a local administration.

“The reports on a UN Hodeidah document is not true; it’s pretty much written by the parties,” Mr Griffiths said at the UN-backed talks in Sweden. “The Hodeidah proposal is not something that we have worked on.”

Government representatives confirmed to The National the draft was not “an official document”.

Yemen’s internationally recognised government was willing to accept a role for the UN to oversee Hodeidah but called for a rebel withdrawal from the port and full government control over the city.

Ali Ashal, a member of the Yemeni government’s delegation, said that the government was not willing to consider a ceasefire agreement that did not meet three conditions: the rebels must withdraw from Hodeidah; they must surrender their arms; and the city should be placed under full government control.

“These factors must be met before we consider any proposal for peace,” Mr Ashal said.

He said that the government was willing to accept UN supervision of Hodeidah port but not the city.

“We are calling only for Hodeidah port to be under full UN supervision and we are sticking to our demands that Hodeidah city should be under the full supervision of the internationally recognised government,” Mr Ashal said.

In New York, the spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said that both parties were in engaged in talks “on all issues and nothing is off the table”.

Mr Griffiths said that Hodeidah had proven to be a “very difficult issue”.

“We are hopeful to reach an agreement for de-escalation on Hodeidah but we are not there yet,” he said.

Mr Griffiths earlier said that he wanted to “take Hodeidah out of the war”.

He said that would allow international aid deliveries could be restored through the port and the country could avoid famine.

Mr Ashal said Yemen’s Ministry of Transport must be responsible for managing the

port. He said police forces affiliated with the government’s Interior Ministry must be responsible for security inside Hodeidah, ruling out the possibility of joint control with the rebels.

The Red Sea port city has been the objective of a government offensive against Houthi rebels since June. Fighting in the city could trigger a new humanitarian crisis in Yemen, where the UN estimates 14 million people face imminent starvation.

The UN has repeatedly tried to end fighting in the city, which is home to 150,000 people and is a vital landing point for aid across Yemen.

The government accuses the rebels of smuggling arms from Iran through Hodeidah and has demanded that they withdraw from the area. The Houthis have so far refused such requests. Although no progress has been made on a Hodeidah ceasefire, the parties are taking steps towards finalising an agreement on a prisoner swap.

Houthi rebels and the government agreed to a prisoner-exchange deal on the first day of UN-backed talks in Sweden on Thursday and have since held face-to-face consultations to discuss the details.

The government is hoping rebels will demonstrate goodwill by releasing high-profile leaders who have been held in Houthi prisons since 2015 before talks end on Friday.

The captives include former minister of defence Gen Mahmood Al Soubaihi and Maj Gen Naser Mansour Hadi – Yemeni President Abdrabu Mansur Hadi’s brother – in addition to the leader of the Al Islah party, Mohammed Qahtan.

Hadi Haig, who heads the government’s prisoner swap committee, told The National the deal would be carried out in stages and it could take up to 48 days before all prisoners were exchanged. Both sides were to deliver a list of prisoners to the UN yesterday, he said.

The government and rebels will then exchange information concerning the fate of the detained, before submitting approval on a final list of prisoners to be released.

Two-and-a-half years after Britain voted to leave the European Union by the slightest of margins, the separation process looks more fraught than ever. Prime Minister Theresa May – dogged by rebellion within her own Conservative party – suffered her greatest humiliation yet last night, as she called off a parliamentary vote on her doomed Brexit deal. The leader of the Labour opposition Jeremy Corbyn declared the government was in “complete chaos” and Conservative MPs were plotting a vote of no confidence against her. Just three months before Britain is scheduled to formally leave the EU, everything is still up for grabs. Britain could, as those agitating for a second referendum prefer, remain in the EU. The European Court of Justice ruled on Monday that the UK could cancel Brexit without EU permission. Equally, Britain could crash out without a deal, potentially triggering economic disaster. The UK parliament could accept Mrs May’s deal, or an iteration of it. She could just as easily be ousted or resign before the week is out.

Addressing a raucous House of Commons, Mrs May tried to assure MPs that her deal offers the best outcome for Britain, by respecting the referendum outcome, protecting the economy and averting a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. But it is her solution to the latter, the so-called “backstop”, which would have lost her today’s aborted vote. Mrs May will now return to Brussels to re-examine the issue, but with so little trust in her leadership, MPs’ concerns will not be assuaged. Meanwhile, Brussels has dismissed the idea of renegotiating. “This deal is the best and only deal possible,” said Mina Andreeva, European Commission spokeswoman.

It speaks to the hazards of detaching Britain from the world’s largest trading bloc, for which there is no historical or legal precedent. The ostensibly simple matter of preserving an open border in Ireland could now derail the whole process. It is unclear when – and, indeed, if – MPs will vote on a Brexit deal. Mrs May now finds herself in even deeper trouble. In the midst of all this, British voters on both sides of the debate see a government in disarray, stumbling from one disaster to another, holding the economic future of the nation in the balance. And every day the clock ticks down to March 29, 2019, when, short of a second referendum or a dramatic government climbdown, Britain will exit the European Union.